BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter and FREDA MAE SORSANO
MANILA – For how long will the supplemental agreement between the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and Flo Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. hold?
Cong. Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City doubts it will solve the water supply and distribution problem in the city.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo brokered the supplemental agreement and MIWD and Flo Water signed it on Sunday, paving the way for the resumption of water supply in Iloilo City and suburbs.
“It is not the final solution,” Treñas told Panay News yesterday.
For the congressman, only privatization can ensure Iloilo City’s sufficient and uninterrupted water supply.
Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who previously said he would rather have the city government do the water distribution, said yesterday he now favors Treñas’ privatization proposal.
No less than Flo Water chairman, Dr. Rogelio Florete Sr. himself indicated the fragility of the supplemental agreement.
His company will not stop delivering water to MIWD “for as long as everybody follows the agreement,” he said on Sunday.
“Hopefully they will honor it,” said Mabilog.
Florete stopped delivering water to MIWD on Aug. 9 and Aug. 11 due to MIWD’s failure to pay Flo Water. He did the same in June this year.
Treñas said, however, that even if Flo Water has resumed its water delivery, MIWD remains incapable of serving all of its area of coverage – the city plus the nearby towns of Maasin, Cabatuan, Santa Barbara, Pavia, Oton, Leganes and San Miguel.
MIWD can only serve 20 percent of its franchise area, he lamented.
“Water companies with the necessary experience, competence and financial resources should come in,” said Treñas.
He suggested that MIWD just serve as a “regulatory agency” of private water distributors in Iloilo City, making sure that the price of water won’t be excessive, and its quality maintained.
Flo Water proposed on Sunday to lay more pipelines so that MIWD can expand its water distribution but Treñas said that is not the bulk water supplier’s job.
He also said MIWD will need “billions of pesos” to fix its “antiquated” water pipes.
“The problem is really the system. We welcome the compromise agreement and supplemental agreement. But it is not the final solution. It is (just) a step towards the final solution,” said Treñas.
Mayor Mabilog said privatization would be the permanent solution.
“Letting a private entity take over the water distribution is a 100-percent solution to our water problems at the soonest possible time,” he said.
Treñas recently introduced House Resolution 1363 urging the Local Water Utilities Administration and MIWD to initiate the process of privatization of Iloilo City’s sole water distributor. Mabilog said he has been furnished a copy of the resolution and has studied it.
The process of privatization will take “six to eight months,” Treñas said.
Meanwhile, the case that the city government has been mulling against the water district for poor service may have to take a back seat, said Mabilog.
Mabilog said the city government will be giving MIWD a chance to completely rehabilitate itself.
“I am always hopeful. As long as the city has a continuous supply of water, it is okay with me. I represent the people of Iloilo City and if they will complain, I will complain with them,” Mabilog said./PN
